We’ll go to Galatians first, and then we’re going to go to 1 Corinthians 3, and I’ll try to keep it shorter. This is harder than it was. I argued in that sermon that the new commandment — “Love one another: just as I have loved you. . . . By this all people will know that you are my disciples” — is new not simply that it was given a new comparison like “Love each other, not just as you love yourselves, but love each other as I have loved you” (John 13:34–35).

Understanding the New Commandment

That is new in that the Son of God had never been in the world before, had never loved like he loved, had never died for his own. Therefore, love like that would have a new feel to it. But I said it was more than that. We’re not just copying; we’re connecting (my phrase). I even said not mainly new because of its copy factor, but its connecting factor.

And I argued that from the text in 1 John 2:9, where he says it’s new because the light is already shining in the world, and therefore the idea is that the kingdom is common, the glory is common, and God is at work in the world, and you now are part of that newness of God’s sweep in the world. And then to confirm that, went over to John 15 where the new commandment is repeated one more time in connection with “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5).

“And so now, loving like me is loving with my love.” This is sap, not imitation. The Vine is not saying to the branches on the ground who are broken off and dry, “Now copy me up here with all my pulsing life.” No, you’re grasping it, and now the newness of Christ in the world and the newness of Christ in me, which simply means love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is why we’re in Galatians 5 here.

Walking by the Spirit

So let’s read. I just want to put five or six other phrases on that. Start at Galatians 5:16: “But I say, walk by the Spirit.” So there’s the first one: Walk by the Spirit. Love by the power that flows through the connection with the Vine. Let’s call him this time the Holy Spirit.

And you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit . . . (Galatians 5:16–18)

Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

That’s number two. So now we’re not just walking by the Spirit, we’re being led by the Spirit. He’s the initiative out there in front, pulling, drawing, guiding, shaping our lives. If you’re led by the Spirit, “you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy” (Galatians 5:18–20).

Pause there for a minute on the words jealousy and strife. Where I’m going in this devotion is through Galatians 5 and establishing this connectedness that we have with Jesus and with the Spirit so that all of our loving is not ours but his through us.

Where I’m going with that is over to 1 Corinthians 3 where the issue is envy and strife and jealousy based on choosing favorite leaders. “‘I’m of Paul.’ ‘I’m of Apollos.’ ‘I’m of Cephas.’ We’re of Christ. All you other jerks are partisan.” And what that was about to do to the church in Corinth, that was the issue in 1 Corinthians 1, that was the issue in 1 Corinthians 3. And so that’s where I’m going. So when you hear the word jealousy here and strife and enmity, “fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions” you can hear what the Holy Spirit doesn’t do (Galatians 5:20). He does the opposite.

Living by the Spirit

That’s what the flesh does. And transitions in church life are fertile soil for that kind of fleshly activity and fleshly thinking.

I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the Spirits. There’s number three. So walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit. Now bear the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, there’s number four. So now we got walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, bear the fruits of the Spirit, and live by the Spirit, which is what we do if we’re born again.

Keeping in Step with the Spirit

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). You think it’s repetition. It’s not. The first one is peripateó. This one is stoicheó. You can’t say that in Greek, but peripateó is this kind of walking right here. “Walk by the Spirit” — typical metaphor for living the Christian life. Stoicheó is unusual. It’s a lining up of troops, getting in lines for marching, and then keeping in step so that one’s not going here and one’s not going there. That’s the image — that’s the word. Stoicheó — line up with the Spirit.

So he’s in the formation. Don’t get out of step with the Holy Spirit. So march well and keep the legs moving and the arms swinging and the face looking just like the Holy Spirit does so that you’re looking like the Holy Spirit. So it’s a different metaphor. It’s not just repetition. So now we’ve got five: walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, bear the fruit as the Spirit, be alive by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit.

Sowing to the Spirit

“Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:26). Now drop down to Galatians 6:6:

One who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit. (Galatians 6:6–8)

That’s number six, which is the most puzzling of all to me. It’s the one I can hardly get my head around, and commentaries are almost useless it seems to me. I’ve looked commentary after commentary, and they don’t wrestle with the oddness of it. What’s the picture? I’m sowing to the Spirit. Let me finish it.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7–8).

What is sow to the Spirit? You’ve got a bag of seeds. What’s that? What are the seeds? The Spirit is the ground, the furrow. I don’t know what to make. It’s so hard to figure out. Most commentators just pass right over. “Yeah, some metaphor for living by the Spirit. Walking.” Well, yeah, but help me. I said, “What is sow? How do you sow? What are you sowing? And is it my heart? Is it my actions? Is it my money? What am I sowing, and what does to mean? And where’s the Holy Spirit and how’s the seed land on him?”

And my best shot is to say that the Holy Spirit has attitudes and behaviors that he means for us to be alive in and be fruitful in. And he plows. He plows that furrow. And we should throw the seeds in there. We shouldn’t throw them over there. We should throw the seeds of our life, the seeds of our attention, the seeds of our action in the row of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness. He is doing work to cut these and we join him in this case by sowing the seeds of our life maybe.

And then he isn’t just a row furrow maker, but covers it over. He waters it, he nurtures it. So join him in putting yourself and your life and your efforts, but count on him. If that seed’s going anywhere, that’s where it’s going.

The God of Galatians and 1 Corinthians

So let’s go to 1 Corinthians 3. Wait a minute. I jumped the gun. I jumped the gun. To make the connection with 1 Corinthians 3, I’ve got to establish one more thing from Galatians 3. Practically as I read 1 Corinthians 3, we’re just going to read the whole chapter together and come in as we go. And I pause seven times and say that’s an argument from the aspired apostle for at Bethlehem and Desiring God. Not having jealousy and rivalry and envy around this candidate or me or somebody you wish would have been the candidate.

There’s the triad. I can see we don’t like him. “We do like” or “don’t like Piper.” “We wish it had been him, and now we’re all in these groups, and we’re unhappy.” I don’t think that’s going to happen. But it happened at Corinth. I think if we see reasons why it won’t or shouldn’t happen, it will help us. But to see them, we have to ask, “Well, if we walk by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit and are led by the Spirit and live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit and sow to the Spirit, very practically, what does that mean when I hear the word of God?”

And the answer is it means believe, and that’s in Galatians 3:5: “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you?” That’s what I want to know. Okay? I want that. “And works miracles among you.” Yes, like love. “Do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:5). And the answer is not by works of the law, but by hearing with faith.

So when I hear the word of God, faith comes by hearing. When I hear the word of God, the gospel, the arguments that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians, through when I hear God talking, faith says yes. And that yes is a work of the Holy Spirit. And what he creates at that yes is like a conduit through which he powerfully moves. So faith is the creation of the Holy Spirit and the conduit of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of faith’s conduit mediating the Spirit is love.

Arguments Against Jealousy and Strife in 1 Corinthians 3

All right, now we’re ready. 1 Corinthians 3, and I wrote down seven arguments that Paul gives against jealousy, against envy, against strife, against party spirit, against boasting in Paul or Cephas or Apollos. And they are amazing — especially the last one. But let’s move through these. And I’ll just read the whole chapter and pause and point them out. You’ll see them as we go.

Spiritual Immaturity

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1). Why? What’s the problem? “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 3:2–3). Notice flesh — works of flesh. We saw what they were. Now what are they here? You’re all still of the flesh.

“For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?” (1 Corinthians 3:3–4). That’s a horrible indictment. I mean, it’s one thing to be called babes in Christ. I can handle that. To be called merely human is to be called an unbeliever.

So he doesn’t call him an unbeliever. He says you’re acting like it. You are babes in Christ. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here, but you’re acting like you’re just human. Zero Holy Spirit, just like everybody else in the world is the way you’re acting, and that’s the argument.

Boasting in Servants

If you split up like this and you start boasting in Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, and you divvy up the church into these rivalry factions, you’re acting like unbelievers, and that’s really dangerous because you might prove to be one if you go on in this. So that’s argument number one, and we should now hear that and sow to the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit. That means trust God and believe that’s serious. I embrace that. I hear that. I receive that warning and that interpretation of this. I believe that.

Just Galatians 3:5 by itself. “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.” So what’s the argument there? You’re boasting, you’re lining up behind slaves. That’s the word: servants, and if you have been one to Christ through them or receive any blessing through them, it is because the Lord sovereignly chose to assign that to them. So line up behind the Lord, let him move. Boast — boast in the Lord. That’s argument number two. (Galatians 3:5).

God’s Gives the Growth

Now, Galatians 3:6–9:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

So the emphasis is decisively speaking, Apollos and I are nothing. That will sound to a lot of people like an overstatement. Make sure you see it. Neither he, verse seven, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. So he reaches to the limit to nullify himself and nullify Apollos and Cephas.

What he’s saying is that’s really true when it comes to the decisive cause of anything good in this church. Decisive keyword. We are instruments and he’s willing to back up and say that. But if you want to get right down to it, what brought about any decisive good here? Any eternal good here? Any salvation here? Any genuine faith here? Any genuine spirit-prompted love here? God did that.

So you’re saying really bad things about God if you get to line up with a teacher, if you get him out of whack.

Building on the Foundation

First Corinthians 3:10–15 — number four: “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.” So I looked at the candidate at this point and I said, “I’ve built here, and you will build. You build well.” Okay, however, that’s not the main point here. I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw — each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up . . . (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)

And he’s talking about how you build on the foundation of Christ in the church. This is not just random good being good, this is building the church with right doctrine and right structures and right affections. “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). So here’s the main thing I’m seeing there for me and this candidate and for your proper assessment.

Manifestation of Works

First Corinthians 3:13: “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day.” That’s right. The day of judgment will disclose it. We do not know what the last thirty years have been, my thirty years. We don’t know. You have some measure, we have some measure of spiritual discernment, but by and large, I think we’ll probably be surprised.

Some things are just going to be swept away. They didn’t count. They looked so successful, they looked impressive, and they’re just going to be swept away. Other things, maybe little things, little things, going to shine like diamonds. Little acts in the nursery that somebody did because they heard a word from me. So that’s a good thing that happened. That will be a diamond. And then another program that was developed that was shiny and it will be seen to be hollowed. And there’s just a lot of flesh in it. And right now, the reason you have to think this way is that there are people with huge churches who are heretics.

So growing the church to five thousand folks is proof of nothing. It proves nothing. This is what proves everything. Gold, silver, precious stone, or wood, hay, and stubble, the day will disclose it. Right now you think you can see wood, hay, and stubble. You don’t have the fire to disclose it. The fire will disclose it. Which is why Paul I think said later, 1 Corinthians 4: “I do not even judge myself” (1 Corinthians 4:3). I don’t trust my own judgment about my ministry. God will be my judge. And that’s the way I feel about hundreds of decisions I’ve made in the ministry.

I made a decision on Wednesday. I had to make decisions, had to do with something’s going to happen, and I wasn’t sure. I was not sure the godly thing to do. I made it. I had to make it. And now, right now, if you say, “Did you make the right decision?” I say, “I don’t know.” I’ve lived a lot of my life that way in the ministry you just do the best you can and you hand it over to him who judges justly. That’s pretty sobering. And for people in the church, they should be very slow to assume that they can discern gold, silver, precious stone, and wood, hay, and stubble. When in fact Paul says the day will disclose it. And he’s talking about his own and Apollo’s and Cephas’s work.

God’s Temple

First Corinthians 3:16–17, we’ve got two more:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

He’s not talking individually. The church, you are that temple. In other words, he’s saying you who say I’m of Apollo and I’m of Cephas and I’m of Paul, don’t you realize this could destroy the church in Corinth? And if you do, I’ll kill you. I will take you out. You kill my church.

He is jealous for his temple. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. So we hear that and faith says yes, I embrace that. That’s God’s word to me. I hear that, I tremble with that. I will guard my mouth and my life and do nothing that could destroy his temple. “I will build, I will build. Everything will be for oikodomé will build this church. It will not destroy.”

Boasting in Men

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (1 Corinthians 3:18–20)

So, beware of how deceitful intelligence and eloquence and personality are. That’s what was going on in Corinth. Apollos was really good in front of people. Everybody loved to listen to Apollos. He was eloquent and smart. That no one deceives himself. Anyone thinks that he’s wise in this age, kind of a Greek philosophical wisdom and eloquence that was so impressive in Corinth. Let him become a fool that he may become wise. The wisdom of this world is folly with God. God is not mainly looking for eloquence and intelligence and personality suave.

He’s looking for prayer and humility and faith and courage and love and spiritual anointing. That’s what you vote on in a few, whenever we vote in May. You vote on that. So he’s just pushing them away from lining up behind Paul: “He’s got a lot of authority,” and Apollos: “He’s got a lot of eloquence,” and Cephas “I kind of like his personality.” Some of us do.

Lastly, 1 Corinthians 3:20–21, the best of all. This is so counterintuitive, it blows you away. It blows me away. “So let no one boast in men” (1 Corinthians 3:21). So he’s still there. He’s still handling Paul, Cephas, Apollos. This is the issue in the first three chapters of Corinth. Divisions circling around teachers that are threatening through jealousy and envy and strife to destroy the church. And now he’s given his final argument, why you shouldn’t boast in men. All things are yours.

“Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas” — you want to own them? You own them. The world will throw that in. Life, that’s yours. Death, it’ll serve you too. That’s yours. Your own special servant. Present things, future things, they’re all yours. They’re all serving you. Why? You’re Christ, and Christ is God. So God has Christ, Christ has you, and you have everything. So what is he assuming here? Isn’t he assuming that behind this vicarious need to identify with a leader is this need? You’re acting like you’re not an owner of the universe. Like you’re a needy person. You’re needy inside and you get some strokes or some inner strength or some riches of soul by lining up behind Apollos.

Everything in Christ

What’s with that? You own everything in Christ. You’re an heir of the universe. You’re acting like you’re poverty-stricken and in need of some kind of help. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Most of our grumbling, most of our complaining, most of our jealousies, envies, and strife, are owing to the fact that we don’t believe what we have. We don’t believe how rich we are, how stunning it is to be saved. What it means to be a child of the living God. Not an employee, not a slave, but an heir. And it’s just around the corner, and we already have the down payment. And if we believed it, I mean, what does Piper define faith as? Being satisfied with all that God is first in Jesus.

Well, this is a place where it better kick in because if we’re not satisfied with what we’re offered here in 1 Corinthians 3:21–22, we’re probably going to line up behind people in inappropriate way.

So, let’s walk by the Spirit and be led by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit and be alive in the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit and sow to the Spirit by believing 1 Corinthians 3, and thus being set free from jealousy and envy and strife and party spirit. And so be a blessing to Bethlehem.